A fresh reinstall of Firefox, causes trouble I never had before. Why?
I got a BAD infection to my Win. 7 Dell Inspiron laptop, and this was caused by an ATTACK from the con group, IFIXPC, which is based in a third-world country. It included ID THEFT, which was accepted by the FTC. i ALLOWED them to take control of my PC, and I paid a very bad price. The pc ran horribly regardless of what I tried, and finally with some help from top tech person at COX, my IP provider, I was able to clean most of the infection off the pc, but a little remained.
After two months, I had enough, and TRIED to do an OS ONLY from my Dell Reinstall CD, Doing it maybe 5 or 6 times in my pc experience, I never ran into TROUBLE. This time I did. BIG TIME. Starting at about 8:52 AM, I began, and that reinstall effort, would get stuck until finally it would continue, but by late that afternoon, when transferring files, it got stuck with 748 files left to transfer, and it just continued trying and trying. until at about 11:00 PM, I went to bed, leaving the pc on, still trying to get UNSTUCK. Next morning, it was still STUCK, unable to transfer those last 748 files, and I did what I should not have, but I turned the pc off using the power switch. That was the WORST thing I could do, but it's all I could think off. Needless to say, nothing allowed the Dell CD to do anything for some 5 days, until I was blessed to access the CD again. It sure would not allow an OS ONLY reinstall, so I tried a complete, full reinstall, sacrificing everything to at least get Windows 7 again. It worked, and it gave me a pc, that was ONLY A WINDOWS 7 PC, nothing else. It looked great, but it wasn't functional. I've been reinstalling some programs and Folders and Files I had copies of, but Firefox TOTALLY has me stumped. I installed the freshest version of Firefox, 49.0.1, and it was no trouble, UNTIL AFTER it was installed, and then simply refused to work. The page that opened, talked about the site it was trying to reach, was not using the proper HTTPS that Firefox demanded. Go further, it opened a sign-in option, and when I tried, iy opened a NO INTERNET ACCESS. This even happened, using Chrome, which was certainly on line. I even checked if Windows FIREWALL had an issue, but it showed me that Windows Firewall, was NOT ACTIVE, it was my Kaspersky Firewall, that was active, and looking into it, it showed Firefox, HAD NO RESTRICTIONS, IT WAS ALLOWED ON LINE PASSING THROUGH IT'S FIREWALL.
So now, I can't do a thing, and because I am 64, I'm not an IT technician, so I either try and get help from you, or I trash using FIREFOX on this computer. Can anyone help me? Thank you.
Paul
All Replies (6)
H Paul, Sorry you have had so many problems.
First of all if you have any doubts about whether you have any bad stuff on your computer after the recent attack you may wish to try scanning with all the tools mentioned in this article
I mention that because although you may have reinstalled your OS you will have also installed other files and programs and may have unwittingly reinstalled some malware.
I know some people have had problems with Firefox not working after it was upgraded but you are mentioning errors that say something including HTTPS
- Could you please let me know what the exact message is ?
Now as you mention using Kaspersky, even if your error message is not exactly the same possibly the problem is as described in this help article
The steps you need to take, or settings you need to check vary slightly depending an exactly what Kaspersky software and version it is that you have. It may involve updating your Kaspersky software if it is paid for software.
- Please let me know what the kaspersky software is with its full version details
John99,
I thought I'd get back to you faster than this, but I found when I was looking into the Kaspersky Firewall, that it had NO ISSUES with Firefox dealing with it. But I did find that there was an error, in Kaspersky itself. I have the paid version of Kaspersky Internet Security, and it showed me it was running updates daily, as I had set it to, but they FAILED. I got in touch with Kaspersky and I just could not access my account with them, thus unable to sign in. I had the confirmation email from them, showing all the important data I had for my account, but had to fight, and fight, until I finally got to TECH SUPPORT, if it's what it's supposed to me. I had to PROVE, OVER AND OVER AGAIN, that I had a KASPERSKY PRODUCT, and I had indeed bought it last month. They had me send more and more info on different pieces of the Kaspersky I had, and just this morning, had me create a LOG of events and send it to them, which I did. In their last request, they also asked me to turn Kaspersky OFF, and try opening Firefox again, and when I did, SURPRISE, SURPRISE - Firefox worked. I was able to go to Facebook, sign in, and the only drawback, was it took maybe twice as long as usual to get the page done for Facebook, but it certainly did work. So, I closed Firefox completely, restated Kaspersky, and as I fixing to restart Firefox, Kaspersky popped up a warning window, stating my Database was badly outdated. Okay, I tried updating it again, and this time, it did not fail. Why? I reopened Firefox, and back to the error messages again. That tells me, it's not Firefox that has a problem, but KASPERSKY. I contacted them with that log they requested and told them it was THERE TROUBLE, causing Firefox from working. About 10 minutes later, I had a SEVERE WARNING POP UP FROM THE SYSTEM TRAY, saying my system had been COMPROMISED, and system files were being stolen from me. It also demanded I NOT TURN MY COMPUTER OFF, but to call somebody, to have them deal with this. Behind that partial pop-under that appeared, I could see a black screen with files and more files, rolling down it. I did just what it said to not do, I used the power switch to turn it off, then restarted it again, and as far as I can tell, everything is as it's supposed to be.
I thought of this, was it Kaspersky that caused that situation to erupt suddenly? I don't know, but until I get some sort of fix on this, KASPERSKY stays off.
So, the trouble seems to be with Kaspersky, not Firefox, so I felt I should let you know about this before making people think I wasn't serious asking for help. Let you know what develops from this. Thanks.
Paul
Kaspersky could be part of the problem. But if you have paid for Kaspersky software it should be used. Sure sometimes their software and Firefox do not get along, but once Kaspesrky update their software and you use that updated software and set it up correctly all should be fine again most of the time.
Right now some Kaspersky software is causing problems with the latest Firefox 49. That is something being investigated and there is a good possibility that either Firefox, Kaspersky or both will make updates to fix that issue pretty quickly.
From the info the forum software picked up I guess you are using Windows 7. That does have its own basic Firewall and security software and if you are not using Kaspersky you should make sure that you enable the Microsoft Software.
You have potentially three problems needing resolving
- Kaspersky may need to be fully updated and then set up correctly to work properly with Firefox
- However: The latest Kaspersky & Latest Firefox may not actually be compatible to work. Firefox could refuse to start
- Also: You may have problems with secure sites until Kaspersky software is set up to work correctly with Firefox,
John99,
Thanks for telling me we don't live in a perfect world! I'll admit, it is frustrating not knowing if it's Kaspersky at fault, or if it's Firefox. Or worse, if it's BOTH. Yes, I know and have Windows Firewall turned on. At the moment, it seems I can use Kaspersky, if I'm not using Firefox, but if I want Firefox to work, I gotta put Kaspersky to sleep. Boy...
Well, I did ask for help, and you gave it to me, and I am thankful for that. I wish I had known Kaspersky and Firefox version 49, had a conflict between them. But, I'm not God, so, if I keep both, it's OFF and ON, for them, on my Windows 7 64 bit computer.
John99, thank you for the help and advice, And I'll try to keep you updated on how things are going. Again, thank you.
Paul
Hi Paul Yes it is not a perfect world, but there should not be any insurmountable problems. I just did not to want to be unrealistic and promise an instant fix.
My main concern was that issues could be because you still have a malware problem. Checking that out should be the first priority.
The problem with Firefox not starting may be resolved soon, and may not even be a problem with the Kaspersky software you use. It may only be some Kaspersky software that has that problem.
The problem with the software not being set up correctly may not apply to you and can easily be fixed if it is a problem.
If you are on old Kaspersky it will probably not be secure and safe anyway and probably should not be used.
John99,
I have malwarebytes installed, but it's the free version. I've run it almost every day for a week, but it don't find anything at all. I always wondered, if a paid version would be that much better, or if there was anything even better than Malwarewarebytes that would do best. But at this point, I stll have just the free version.
COX, is my IP which I use their fiber, for excellent broadband speeds. Having an account with them, provides a free McAfee program, and I used it for some years, but I found it was starting to act oddly, even after I removed it and reinstalled it. So, I started looking around, and as I had used the paid version of Kaspersky some years back, and can't remember having any issues with it, I chose to buy them again, but I'm not happy with that choice. I could always switch back to COX's free McAfee, but I'll just sit here and twiddle my thumbs.
That conflict that looks to exist between Firefox and Kaspersky, may be resolved quickly, and it would be nice if it does. Tomorrow's another day, and hopefully, it's a nice one. By the way, thank you for treating me as a human being, not as a servile underling, that happens so much lately, in my opinion. You, are a nice person to deal with. Thank you.
Paul